ALERT: A dangerous driving trend circulating on TikTok has some young drivers rapidly steering left, right, and back again while travelling on public roads. It may look like harmless swerving for a video, but the physics can quickly turn it into an unrecoverable loss of control. For L and N drivers, the consequences could also extend well beyond a crash, including tickets, penalty points, vehicle impoundment, or loss of their licence.

“Just get them off the screen and put them in other activities.” Sounds simple, but what if a family can’t afford the fees, equipment, transportation, or time away from work? Conversations about screen time rarely acknowledge the opportunity divide. When one family’s solution depends on resources another family doesn’t have, financial privilege can quietly become parenting advice. Before prescribing “offline,” we need to understand what is realistically accessible.

Robux may look like virtual money, but for kids it can represent real birthday money, allowance, saved rewards, and something they genuinely value. That makes Robux and Roblox accounts attractive targets for scammers, account thieves, and online predators. In this article, we explain how these tactics work, why Robux can become a tool for manipulation, and the practical steps parents can take to help protect their kids without banning Roblox.

Sometimes “Enlighten, Not Frighten” means confronting something that is genuinely frightening. We have now assisted three Canadian families whose children were targeted by individuals associated with 764. A powerful new Sky News investigation into The Com closely mirrors what we witnessed firsthand. It is disturbing, difficult to watch, and an important resource for parents, caregivers, educators, and anyone working with youth. Knowledge matters.

💀 doesn’t always mean death. 😭 doesn’t always mean sadness. 🍑 might be innocent, or it might not be. Welcome to the constantly evolving world of emoji communication. In this follow-up to our teen slang article, we explore how youth use emojis to express humour, emotion, sarcasm, relationships, and sometimes risk. The key for parents isn’t memorizing a “secret emoji code.” It’s understanding context, behaviour, and conversation. 👀

Rizz, sigma, aura, cooked, mogging, bop, gooning, and the mysterious “6-7.” Teen slang can sound like another language, but understanding it isn’t about parents trying to sound cool. It’s about understanding context. Some terms are harmless, while others can point toward bullying, sexualization, body image, or misogyny. Our new article explains why youth slang has become an important part of digital literacy.

Young creators are increasingly being targeted by “pay-to-play” collaboration scams promising shoutouts, sponsorships, promotions, or influencer opportunities, but only after money is sent. As AI makes these approaches more personalized and convincing, teens need to know the warning signs. We look at how this scam works, why validation can override caution, and why young creators should stop, investigate, and verify before they pay.

When something goes wrong online, it’s easy to ask, “Where were the parents?” But digital parenting isn’t just a knowledge problem, it’s also a capacity problem. Parents and caregivers have finite time, energy, resources, and attention. We explore the idea of “parenting bandwidth,” why digital safety must be a shared responsibility, and why raising resilient kids requires more than monitoring, restrictions, and parental controls.

What if the smartphone isn’t the device that defines the next decade? Meta’s new Muse Charm, AI glasses, and OpenAI’s work with former Apple design chief Jony Ive may signal a growing race to build what comes next. For parents and caregivers, this shift could change far more than screen time. We explore the rise of personal AI, wearable technology, privacy, parental controls, and why “When should my child have their own AI?” may soon become an important question.

What happens when AI stops being something youth and teens open on a phone and becomes something they carry everywhere? Meta’s new Muse Charm offers a glimpse into a future of portable, personalized AI companions that can see, hear, remember, and respond. We look beyond the novelty to what parents and caregivers should know about privacy, emotional attachment, developmental readiness, and keeping the human element at the centre of AI.

Apple’s new iOS 27 parental controls give families more ways to scaffold an iPhone as children grow, including Ask to Browse, contact approvals, Time Allowances, customizable schedules, expanded Communication Safety, and a redesigned Screen Time. But do these tools make an iPhone “child safe”? Not quite. We unpack what’s new, what parents need to know, where important gaps remain, and why parental controls should be guardrails, not guarantees.

For years, we taught children and teens to think about their “Digital Footprint,” the trail they leave behind online. But generative AI has changed the conversation. Today, our digital identity can also be shaped by what others share, what technology infers, and even things AI creates that we never said or did. Perhaps it’s time for a new analogy, the “Digital Echo,” what can continue, spread, change, or be created about us long after the original moment.

There will always be another email, deadline, project, or reason to say, “Not right now.” But one day, your child stops asking. Looking back as a 61-year-old father, there’s one question I wish I had said “yes” to more often: “Dad, do you want to play?” This deeply personal reflection explores regret, reconnection, and why stepping into our children’s digital world may be one of the most important investments we make in our relationship with them.

What if creating a safer digital environment for our kids was more like building a house? Strong homes aren’t built with one lock, and digital safety isn’t built with one app, parental control, or rule. From the foundation of trust and connection to the safeguards we put at the front door, every layer matters. Most importantly, even the best-built homes can be breached. What we do next may matter just as much as what we did to prevent it.

Protecting children online and protecting their Charter rights should not be competing goals. As Canada debates Bill C-34 and a proposed social media age gate of 16, important questions remain about effectiveness, privacy, age verification, and the rights of youth and adults. Good online safety legislation should hold tech companies accountable while protecting children without unnecessarily compromising the rights and freedoms of all Canadians.

After 8 months of researching, writing, and reflecting, we are excited to share our newest web book for parents and caregivers, “The Human Element,” completely FREE. Technology will change, AI will evolve, and new challenges will emerge, but one thing remains constant: the human element. Protecting our children online matters, but preparing them for the world they are inheriting matters too. No paywall. No purchase. No email required. Just free access for all!

Teddy may do more than talk back. AI-powered toys can hold conversations, remember what children tell them, personalize responses, and potentially collect their voices and personal information. They can also get things wrong. Before an AI teddy bear, robot, or dinosaur ends up under the tree, parents need to understand what may be happening behind that friendly face. Teddy may be a toy, but it may also be a data-collecting computer.

Pornography shouldn’t become a child’s primary teacher about sex, consent, relationships, and intimacy. In today’s onlife world, these conversations may need to start earlier than many parents expect. This article explores how to talk with kids and teens about healthy human sexuality, pornography, boundaries, consent, and respect in age-appropriate ways grounded in evidence, not fear or shame. Don’t wait for one big “sex talk.” Talk early, talk often, and listen.

A teen recently alerted us to an online drug marketplace targeting the Canadian market, where cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, LSD and other substances are presented much like everyday e-commerce. Shopping carts, reviews, referral rewards, “lab testing,” cryptocurrency payments and even age verification can make illicit drug sales appear surprisingly routine. Here’s what Canadian parents and caregivers need to know about this changing online drug market.

Raising Canada 2026 identifies “Online Harms” as the #1 threat facing Canadian children. We agree online harms are real and deserve serious attention, but does the evidence actually establish them as Canada’s greatest threat? We took a deep dive into the report, its statistics, screen-time claims, overlapping risk categories, and methodology. Our question isn’t whether online harms matter. It’s whether these very different childhood risks can truly be ranked #1 to #10.